Sharks stand down Flanagan

Deep water ... Shane Flanagan reportedly called the Daily Telegraph with the news.

Getty Images: Ian Hitchcock

Cronulla has reportedly stood down head coach Shane Flanagan and sacked football general manager Darren Mooney and others.

The moves comes while the club is under an Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) investigation stemming from the Australian Crime Commission's (ACC) year-long probe into sports doping and potential links to organised crime.

Flanagan was questioned by ASADA at Shark Park earlier on Friday.

"I'm shattered," Flanagan told News Limited.

"None of us had any knowledge of what was happening."

Fox Sports News said former Manly coach Peter Sharp will take Flanagan's place on the bench in Cronulla's season opener against Gold Coast at Shark Park on Sunday, and that head trainer Mark Noakes has also been stood down.

Sharp was working under Flanagan as an assistant coach.

He was previously head coach at Manly and the brief joint venture Northern Eagles from 1999 to 2003 before being replaced by Des Hasler.

He has also served as an assistant coach at Parramatta, Newcastle and Melbourne.

Show of support

RLPA chief executive David Garnsey said anti-doping authorities should not punish players for taking performance-enhancing drugs if they were unwittingly sanctioned by their clubs.

"Rugby league players ultimately place their trust in those who are in positions of knowledge and authority at their clubs and, as employees, follow the directions of their employers," Garnsey said in a statement.

"There was a recognition in the Australian Crime Commission's (ACC) report that illegal substances had been administered to players by staff at clubs without those players understanding the nature of the substances.

"Where that has occurred, it's clear that those athletes have been exploited and are not drug cheats, yet they are subject to the same sanctions as those who deliberately set out to take prohibited substances to enhance their performance.

"In short, for reasonably obeying their employers, athletes' careers can be destroyed and reputations irreparably damaged. This cannot have been the object of the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) Code."

"At the end of the day, if players have done nothing wrong then they should hold tight. There's nothing they need to do, the system will clear them," he said.

"If they have done something wrong and they know they've done something wrong, they've got to make a choice real quick. If they go through the process and they lose, they're facing a likely two-year ban.

"There is mitigating circumstance, but it's the degree of fault that the athlete had. If an athlete knew what they were doing then they can expect to get up to a two-year ban."